Forty pythons seized in motel room where five children were staying

Forty ball pythons were discovered in a motel room in Brantford, Canada Thursday where five children including an infant were staying.

The python owners had rented a room for one night at the Bell City Motel after being evicted from their former residence.

Their landlord called police to inform them that the family had taken the pythons with them when they left. It is illegal to own pythons in Brantford and the motel has a strict no pets policy.

The family was out for dinner Thursday evening when police and representatives from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals arrived to confiscate the pets.

SPCA spokesman Brandon James said they found approximately 40 snakes ranging in size from  1 foot to 4.5 feet in very overcrowded conditions.

James told CBC News that in the 10 years he's worked in Brant County, he's never seen that many large snakes.

Brantford police spokesman Sgt Cheney Venn said it appeared that the pythons were being kept for breeding purposes.

'They were not being suitably cared for and were in distress,' he told CNN.

The seizure comes just weeks after two young boys sleeping in an apartment above a reptile store were strangled to death by an African rock python in Campbellton, New Brunswick.

The couple, who had five children in the room, are now being investigated by the Children's Aid Society of Brant, according to Sgt Venn

All of the snakes have been transfered to a reptile facility. 

-Adapted from DailyMail